Hot on the heels of last weekend's trophy extravaganza, our U/14's produced the
performance of the week when their skilful, determined and classy display won
them they league title over an equally skilful Old Crescent side in Coonagh
last Friday evening. Maturity and patience beyond their years was the key, and
the obvious influence of their excellent coaches bore their just rewards. They
trailed
Looking comfortable and actually winning comfortably are two completely different
matters, demonstrated in our AIB league game against UL/Bohs
last Saturday. While we never really feared losing as the game progressed, the
threat of the home side snatching a late victory was never far from our minds.
Failure to capitalise on our dominant facets might well have cost us our
season, but despite a late flurry which increased the slightly fluttering
heartbeats by UL/Bohs, the final score of 12 -6 was
not quite as unconvincing as it sounds. A losing bonus point for the Red Robins
secured their top eight spot and a more than successful season for the club in
general , while our win sees the clamour for the top four spots reach a highly
undesirable nail biting crescendo next Saturday. It's been said more than once
in this column that never has the league been as tight and who realistically
would have predicated the tension would continue right up to the final whistle
of the final league game. Great for the neutrals, but not so
desirable for the die hards. Seven into four
just won't go and the most likely scenario is that point's difference will
eventually eliminate three of the contenders. The positive from our point of
view, and make no mistake, it is a huge positive, is that is were we handed
such a scenario after the first game drubbing by Blackrock;
we would have less than graciously bitten off the proverbial hand. We have
remember, been in a similar situation two seasons ago. Dolphin came to Coonagh
looking to stay up; we needed a bonus point win and results to go right for us
for a top four. We done what was more or less required, but we didn't figure on
some sides capitulating to such an extent that a mere 3 scoring points denied
us. It's still rankles a little, even after the elapsed time and reminders of
events past will no doubt play a small role in the build up. Dolphin however
come to Coonagh this time with a different agenda, and they too share the same
ambition after proving their worthiness to be at this stage with some super
results over the season. Winner takes all may well be a bit too dramatic and
not quite correct but for the losers, the season is almost assured to be over.
Such thoughts allied to memories of a desolate dressing room two seasons ago
will be more than enough motivation for our lads, but for that little bit extra,
I urge everyone associated with the club, past and present to make their
presence felt in Coonagh at 2.30 on Saturday.
The thirds travelled to
Coonagh hosted an Easter U/11 tournament which proved a huge success thanks to
the monumental efforts of our youth Officer Anthony Murphy and his
subcommittee. It was a full pitch tournament with eight clubs competing which
is great preparation for the young lads next season and although we Shannon
didn't claim a trophy the lads played excellently throughout and lost out in
the plate final to Garryowen. The overall winners
were UL/Bohs.
Visiting sides are coming thick and fast and a team from the Toulouse region
played a combination of our 13's and14's last Wednesday and were treated
royally by the underage committee and will no doubt leave Ireland with some
very fond memories of their meeting with Shannon. This Sunday another visiting
team from
The buzz and atmosphere around
Finally the Annual General meeting will take place in the clubhouse on Tuesday
May 19th in the clubhouse and any notice of motions or nominations must be with
the club secretary two weeks prior to the date.(May 5th)